The process of target setting and tracking students’ progress remains an important one. Although the DFE have withdrawn the statutory nature of target setting we will continue to set targets to support improvements in students’ attainment and progress.

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Target Setting

 

Teachers should be clear from the outset about their expectations for individual students at the end of each key stage. For individual student targets to succeed in driving school improvement and maximising student outcomes, they need to be set for students from Year 7 onwards up to and including Year 11 and be linked to strategies and interventions that will help them to achieve well. We will review the effectiveness of our target setting and student tracking systems as part of our self-evaluation each year. Targets are most powerful when they are used alongside teachers’ own assessment and monitoring of students’ progress to inform what needs to happen in the classroom.

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Targets for Y9-11 will be set based on an expectation that all students make the expected progress by the end of KS4, given their KS2 starting points; and that many students will make greater than expected progress.  Attainment will follow from this but will not be the key driver.  All our projected subject targets relating to students’ expected progress will be at least in line with the national estimates recorded in the year the target is set.  Y7-Y8 have no official KS2 starting points due to there not being any SATs assessments at the end of Year 6.  Targets for Y7-Y8 are based on a range of standardised assessments which are used to determine the most suitable pathway for each child.

Assessment

 

Progress towards student targets will be checked twice a year in the school tracking exercise.

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The evidence base to be used may include all or some of the following:

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• Test or topic marks/grades/levels

• Classwork books

• Independent study books/marks/grades/levels

• Project work

• Specific responses by students to activities carried out in class (noted in teachers’ record books).

• Comparison of students’ work with standards files

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Moderation and validation through work scrutiny is carried out by Line Managers, Heads of Department and the Leadership Team to ensure that assessments are accurate and the data valid.

Tracking

 

From Year 7 to Year 10 Autumn term, this will be in the form of either ‘on track’ (green) or ‘not on track’ (red). This must be based on robust subject specific criteria mapped out within tiered Schemes of Learning.

 

During the Year 10 Summer Data Collection and throughout Year 11, teachers are expected to use the full range of assessment information available to them in order to accurately predict their final GCSE grade. Subject Leaders will carry out a check of the accuracy of subject predictions following the Summer GCSE examinations. 

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Scrutiny of the data will identify individuals and groups of students who are underperforming and require intervention or who are exceeding targets and require challenge. These findings are discussed with SLT and detailed within the Department’s Development Plan.

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